Jonas Vingegaard outclassed his great rival Tadej Pogacar in the individual time trial on stage 16 of the Tour de France and extended the lead.
Defending champion Vingegaard won after a show of force in the mountain time trial on Tuesday (July 18th, 2023) from Passy to Combloux and thus defended the yellow jersey of the overall leader.
The 26-year-old Dane from Team Jumbo-Visma completed the 22.4 km course in 32:26 minutes and clearly relegated challenger Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) to second place.
Vingegaard outperforms Pogacar: “Thought mine power meter spins”
Vingegaard was 1:38 minutes faster than second-placed Pogacar and thus increased the lead over the Slovenian to 1:48 minutes in the overall standings. “On the way I thought my power meter was crazy. The numbers were so high,” said Vingegaard, who has held the yellow jersey since stage six.
Vingegaard drove up the mountain at “supersonic speed,” raved the experts on French television. Sports director Rolf Aldag spoke of a “time trial from another planet.”
Belgian Wout van Aert finished third, 2:51 minutes behind. “I’m the first of the people today,” said van Aert, almost in awe of his teammate Vingegaard.
The best German was Nikias Arndt (Bahrain Victorious/37:19) in 25th place. As expected, the German time trial champion Nils Politt (Bora-hansgrohe/38:49) in 68th place had nothing to do with the decision.
Limit time trial over more than 600 meters in altitude
More than 600 vertical meters lay between the start and finish of the demanding mountain time trial. Only two kilometers after the start, the climbing skills were required for the first time on the poisonous Cote de la Cascade de Coeur. Both of them survived the subsequent technical descent unscathed. Vingegaard, who took risks in the corners, was on course for victory early on. At the second time measurement around six kilometers from the finish, the lead was already 31 seconds.
Vingegaard stays on the time trial machine – and outclasses Pogacar
The key point was the Cote de Domancy, a short but steep climb of the 2nd category just before the finish. Pogacar and his UAE team decided to switch from the time trial machine to the lighter mountain road bike at the bottom of the climb. UAE team boss Mauro Gianetti measured the advantage of the measure to around five seconds.
Vingegaard, on the other hand, stayed on the special bike for the time trial. The choice didn’t prove disadvantageous – the defending champion extended his lead over the two-time Tour champion to nearly two minutes. Pogacar is now challenged and has to attack the remaining mountain stages.
17th stage to Courchevel – and the hammer climb to the Col de la Loze
After the time trial, the most difficult stage of this year’s tour awaits: more than 5,000 meters in altitude have to be mastered on the 165 kilometers from Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc to Courchevel. With the scary final ascent to the Col da la Loze, which has an average gradient of more than ten percent, the steepest ramp even reaches 24 percent.